The Annual "One Shot"....

Maple Leaf is here again and YES ! I will be hosting the "One Shot Special" again this year. This is the one time in the year when you can have a Morgan Portrait at extremely reasonable prices. However, this year is going to be different. I have decided that the old background needs an update and a couple of more options available. I will be posting on facebook leaking out a bit of information on each post so stay tuned to your facebook account for more information.

The day of the shoot is Saturday the 19th, Parade Day, and the time is set for 1:00 to 3:00 in the afternoon at 401 Belle Aire Place, off of Grand avenue. Bring yourself, your family, pets, you name it,

they will all look great in a Morgan Portrait. 

Fall Peppers......a longer journey than expected..

My last entry promised a shot or two of some peppers that I was really taken by. I walked into our local grocery and was slapped in the face by the color and "look" of a cascade of peppers they had on display. The rainbow of color really blew me away so I bought a few....4 to be exact. I had misread the pricing sign and thought they were more expensive than they were....the bill totaled 25 cents. However, that was my big purchase of the day. I have been very busy the last several weeks and I didn't get around to shooting them however enjoyed a new pepper every day as they continued to ripen........and eventually turned a solid red. Nice red but sort of boring.

I had some time the day before yesterday and went out to restock and actually forgot where I saw them originally. It was obvious that the store I was in was the wrong one.....no peppers. I was out of time and let the mission for a better day. Yesterday, through a process of eliminanation, I decided to try Reasor's, another favorite store. Wandering through I found a greatly reduced selection of peppers, however still pretty good lookin' as far as peppers go. This had been the store. I spent another quarter, another splash for the economy.

This is my favorite pre-salsa shot....I love the colors....

Favorite time of year......

This is just a heads up for images that are soon to be posted...within the next couple of days. If you have followed the blog at all you have probably picked up on the face that I love the subtle colors and textures of peppers. I have several that I got the other day and have they have been a blast to have around. It's like having a visual book on the counter top in the kitchen. Every day is a new chapter. I was taken by the color of the peppers in the "original sighting" of them. ( Sounds like a war novel...Peppers !! INCOMING !!!! ) The greens and yellows were just amazing. As the days have gone by.....the plot has thickened and changed. It is just stunning. I'll try to get them photographed today. Advice-Go out and get some and watch....What fun.

Last one Zooooom, Zooooooming away.......

The radical designs of the 30's "Art Deco" cars weren't always necessarily appealing in my estimation. I think I found the ugly duckling of the exhibit. It had the biggest fin to "keep it stable "
at high speeds but I don't think that would be enough to make me like it. Be sure to check out the size of the rear scoops on the side of the car. I hope it could go fast as standing still it could visually cause a tire to go flat. A huge red speed

blur would be beneficial............

It was fun seeing the cars..we'll move on to other projects soon.

Zoom Zooooom Scarab...

We are closing in on the last of the Zoom Zoomz with this remarkable Art Deco car. In the thirties Egyptian discoveries lead the headlines in the papers and the Scarab was directly affected in a "tribute

" design. How wild is this......great party car or kid transport. Drive like an Egyptian.....

Cycle Zoooooommmmm

A couple of more Zoom pieces...we're getting toward the end of what I saw but I felt as though there should be a "Cycle" for the "Cycle Zoomers "out there. I find it amazing that these concepts haven't been picked up by present day designers. How cool could they be tooling down the interstate.

In the 80's I had a 1951 Chevy Delivery truck for my studio vehicle. It was drop dead good looking with a deep brown body and black fenders and running boards. I'll scan the one image I have of it and drop it on the blog soon. That is one vehicle I should have never sold. I love cars....

More Zoom.........

As promised..
 

a few more images from the show in Nashville of the Art Deco Era Cars..

The green "boat tail"was the first Edsel from Ford.  Fabulous Automibles.
More to come....

Cars........Zoom...Zoom

While in Nashville I took in a show of Vintage Art Deco cars that were produced in very limited editions in the 30's. Total elegance and really unbelievable that anyone would chance driving them on "the road". I'll drop in a few images in the next several weeks every now and then.

Note the fin in the middle of the bottom car on the rear. I guess it kept the car between the bar ditches.

Traveling Tennessee......

I just got back from a road trip to Nashville and Franklin Tennessee. It was a good time and as I was traveling I was looking for images with the flag book in the back of my mind. You never know when something will catch your eye. As always, rounding a slow curve I had my shot of America in Tennessee. Enjoy....

Images from the road...so to speak.

While home last week my nephew Tim Putman, a photographer with a great eye, and I were driving around on a mission. I had gone out the previous morning to drive and just review my old sites I had used while located in Carthage for the 30 year run of Morgan Studio. I didn't have my camera with me on that first trip. By now you'd think I would know better...this was a redo excursion. I had been to a spring I first started using in the early part of 1973 and it was still flowing. As I went past an old barn I used memories started flowing back of families I had photographed there as will as a few individuals. I then happened upon this flag hanging on an old rodeo arena. It looked as though it might have had possibilities. On the repeat run I shot it and it occurred to me as though there is a flag
icon out there slapping me up the side of my head. I caught the one over the window in Arkansas, now this one, PLUS another I saw on the previous run. There my be material out there I have been missing for a collection of images. I guess I'll have to keep you posted.

Home for one of the last times....

As some of you may know, my Mother passed away a week ago last Thursday. She was perhaps my best cheerleader, telling me I could do anything I wanted to, I just had to do it. Growing up in Carthage I assumed that all breaks were received by those living elsewhere. London, New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago, never in Carthage, Missouri. I was wrong but didn't realize it until I was in my 20's. I think the fact that I even entered into the photographic profession was through the encouragement I got from Mom. You can do anything you want to keep echoing through me when I started my Studio in 1972 as I was 22 and needed a job.

Over educated with a Masters in photography and film I had no choice but to do the one thing I said I would never do....open a studio. I thought it would last three or so years then I'd move on to something more interesting. My first break came when I was asked to bid on a job through Joplin Printing to photograph for a brochure they were producing for Teledyne Neosho, a rebuilder of jet engines. I was fairly sure I could do the work but had never bid on anything with that high of a billing. I walked through the factory with the designer, Rita Lopp, and I gave her some ideas and I got some from her. The shoot was scheduled to last a week and it took all of that time due to the imagery involved and the fact I was shooting with my Linholf 4 x 5 view camera. It turned out to be a fabulous time and one of the images of the gears that I shot received a first place in the Missouri Professional Photographers exposition in St. Louis.
This was my first real break.....in Carthage Missouri.

I started college as a drawing and printmaking major....destined to teach on the college level. I got really tired of the smell of ink and solvents and the time it took to produce a plate and make prints, that were personal images with not much of a commercial market. I took my first photography class from Bob Johnson, an amazing watercolorist and was hooked. However my eyes were opened by Alan Brown the following fall semester when he passed on the printing technique of multi-negitive printing on one piece of paper. New realities were ready to be created that had to be real as they were photographs...............but they were based on the reality of the mind.

I know that Mom was proud of my accomplishments, starting the business, winning awards, serving on Boards of Directors of Non Profits, going to China with Kodak in 1987, and a bit taken back when I went to Iraq before Desert Storm to get Japanese hostages, but over all was pleased with my success.  I feel certain that without her encouragement I could not have accomplished all I have.
I will try to continue sailing on the ocean of her encouragement always remembering the sweet woman she was. Margaret Lynn Speer Morgan 1921 / 2013.

Light seen...

For years I've  of "seen" light in much of my imagery, but it is a fairly abstract thing to talk about. For those that have never taken the time, or even thought about light, seeing light is a duh moment. It has no seeming importance it is just expected to be there. Why bother seeing it.

20 years ago I bought a chiminea to burn pinion wood in for the pleasing smell and to have on the deck. Last night I had it fired up and, as usual, was sitting enjoying the light through the trees. This is one of my most enjoyable pastimes. Light through the trees. The experience is enhanced with old tunes from the late 60's and early 70's, I'm in hog heaven. The light bulb came on in the attic and I thought I should share this with you today. Have a safe fourth and remember.....Light.....Throw...

Memorial Day........

I have had an interesting commercial account for several years....one that seems unexpected at first. It is one of the largest cemeteries in Oklahoma. I photographic at different times of the year and the images keep their advertising files up to date. Of course Memorial Day is a very important day on their calendar. This image is from the last venture out, and will be used for several pieces I'm sure.

Three Ladies.......

I have been working with an account of mine associated with the floral business and in the process of the journey I'm starting to look at flowers in a different light. It's been fun and actually pretty rewarding. This is one of the latest.

Walking in Paris......

I guess I've never mentioned it in my blog but Paris has a special place in my heart. It is a city of found art, fabulous history and of course great food. We were walking through the small streets and I saw a window that held a particular draw for me. I think it was the subtle color and light on the bottles, or perhaps their age, I just don't know.

Birds nest Almost...on the ground.......

I was wandering around the other day and looked a bit closer than perhaps I should have at a bush. It housed the nest of one of the most optimistic birds I have ever seen. I say this because the nest was located about 4 feet off the ground and easily reachable by one of the cats in the area. Maybe the bird has a very vicious mate that will fend off all predators. But then again probably not. I guess I'll have to keep my eye on it and see how things transpire.

I have a commercial job coming up next Monday. Be ready for some new imagery from a long standing account of mine.

New Images.....

I have been a bit hampered with my background stands that I have used for the last several years. The whole setup was a pain to put up, subject to wind, large and in several pieces blah blah blah. I took into consideration what I was shooting generally for the blog and personal tastes, and reconfigured the way to work with a new background system. It is still under development....not rocket science by any means....but these are the first shots. I can already see that I can tweek my light with a couple of modifications and perhaps influence the background depth with a couple of changes. Obviously this is the low key test....later on I will have the high key samples for you to look at.

Sparks Flying...

I was on a commercial job and my client wanted a shot of the hardening process they did on parts they manufactured. This is a hardening process that  extends the life of a surface in a machine and will have to be smoothed in the next process.

Colorado revisited

Here are a couple of images I captured in the Colorado mountains. I find shooting there almost as exciting as in Georgia. Still liking water and quiet light.

On one of my recent trips through New Mexico I thought I'd take a shot at the moon, just for the record so to speak. I liked the terrain and thought I could pull out the feeling I had of being in the middle of the open spaces. The enlarged print is a bit grainy, Tri-X all over again,

but I still think it holds together pretty well.

From our pond...

I just like the look.......

Arkansas travel........

I was traveling through the blue highways of Arkansas and came upon this door. Love the texture and implied patriotism of the setting. It is as American as it gets in the backwoods.

Spring again.....

We have a pair of doves that have remained with us for several years. We see them together and hear them early in the morning and in the evening at dusk cooing to each other. We are their "hang out" location.

On a roll.........

Amazing what can happen when time permits. Here is another favorite image I have come across that frankly I thought I had published before. Check out the length of the lightning bolt in the clouds.

Ocean Flight....

I caught this image our last trip to California. A great day to be photographing and once again around water.

Working on a dreary day...

Because of the weather today I had to cancel until tomorrow some plans that were in the works. I've come up with some interesting images from the past several trips and travels. I seem to be drawn to weather, color, and visual structural design. Obviously purple is a factor in these images.

Please check out this site

I came across an amazing project today from Kickstarter it really puts a new perspective on creativity. Please look at it and help it you can...if nothing else...somewhere in you...there may be an instrument idea that you have and should explore.

The following is the link
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/405192963/landfill-harmonic-inspiring-dreams-one-note-at-a-t

Go to Home on the page to see the video.

Thanks for taking to time to go there.

More images coming soon.

The great Wall......

Since childhood I have been awe of China.....the art, ceramics, silk painting, and all the rest. In 1987 I was invited to join a group with Eastman Kodak to travel the country for a month meeting with  Chinese Professional Photographers. It was remarkable in the sense that I had applied to AFS to travel to China and teach English at the same time learning conversational Chinese. I wanted to do this to essentially kill two birds with one stone. See the country and learn the language. I thought that the ability to think like an American businessman and know the language could open a lot of commercial windows for me, however, I was turned down by AFS.

I was in the studio on a Saturday morning and the phone rang, it was December 1986. It was Paul Ness, an old friend, and a wheel at Kodak. He asked me what I was doing the month of July of 1987. Looking at my schedule I said "Nothing". I had no weddings booked as yet for July. He asked me to join with him and several other Professional Photographers to travel throughout The Peoples Republic. I thought about it for a few seconds and I said YES !! He said he would send more information. I was on the trip and I almost jumped out of my skin. CHINA !! At Last !!!! Then reality set in.

A month with the studio closed. Senior portraits would be beginning to be booked, probably a few weddings...I must be nuts. The professional photography business is hard. I was working as much as I could and and was getting pretty worn out. I did need a break, but a month.......stark raving mad...but what an opportunity. I left on the trip with reservation.

While in China I saw a third world country that I didn't expect. The rural areas had not changed with any technology, Buffalo carts, human energy spent on what we did with machines. But...the colors, and country defy explanation. I would look at a mountain covered with stair steps of greens going from yellow to deep emerald colors from the rice in varying phases of growth. I saw an extremely hard working group of people that in many ways are exactly like us. I also found myself relaxing and beginning to realize that there were things and vision I could change in the business.
I was really changing how I looked at my overall view of my vision and direction I was moving photographicly. It was a really astounding revelation.

We were on the great wall towards the end of the trip. A Monument of proportions you can't imagine unless you are there. This image had never been published and for me tells the visual story of the wall. It was shot with my Linholf 4 x 5 on Ektachrome film. Enjoy.

I will follow up with a few more images soon...........spread the word.

The Encounter...continued..

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago about photographing a guy on a side street west of the square in Springfield while in Alan Browns class at SMS. I had just passed a run down bar and snapped an image of it for possible future use in a blend or what ever.  I collected images in many cases as future parts of completed combinations of images making one complete picture. Ya just never knew what could happen in the darkroom. Bumbling down the street I saw a guy walking toward me and the auto pilot came on and I photographed him. Hard to be discrete with a thirty five...He stopped and asked me if I took his picture. In one of my finest DUH moments I acknowledged that I did. "I don't like having my picture taken.......I want the film."  As diplomaticly as I could I told him that I needed the other images on the roll, there was no way, look for your paddle. He reached behind himself and I pictured myself getting knifed.....I knew I was dead. He pulled out his wallet and gave me a five spot...."Don't make that picture." he said and walked on. I immediately went back and printed the

print......Why has it taken me 44 years to understand the warning I saw just before taking his picture.
Go figure...

I have a new image of the Great Wall in China which I will publish in a couple of days. It's never been seen by anyone other than interested friends and was shot with my Linholf 4 x 5 when I was there in 1987. I have several more images I''ll post from China in the near future that are pretty incredible. Spread the word.

I found it !!

As I mentioned in a recent blog, I was photographing in Downtown Springfield and got a "street shot" of a guy that didn't want to be photographed. We had a discussion about it and ended the conversation on an unexpected note. That image was captured approximately 43 years ago. Looking through my negative file I found the image and the shot I took immediately before it. Viewing the pair of shots is like reading tea leaves pretty wild. I'm having the image scanned and next week it will be in the blog. Don't miss it....I can't believe it took this long to see the real message.

I was wondering where it went...

I have been coasting along with this blog fairly content with its' success, approaching 9,000 viewings,
and wondering however, where the video I made concerning drilling for water in Nicaragua went.
In a moment of exploratory exasperation I DECIDED TO FIND OUT ! I started scrolling through the different past entries and got to the "older posts" at the bottom of the page. I clicked on it started scrolling down and SHAZAAMMMM there it was, in the center of the page with the "start"triangle in the middle of a still image. Checking to see if it was still available I clicked the triangle with the mouse and it started up. My nephew, Andy Putnam, created the soundtrack music which I personally think fits it to a "T". He is a sound engineer in Nashville and is extremely talented and in demand in the city. To see the video go to  http://morganstudiointulsa.blogspot.com/ and check it out.

Another Commercial shot....

In this shot of a part of a commercial printing press I faced the same challenge as the last shot of the complete unit, however this one was taller. Living in the world of 5'9" tall items are always a challenge. Once again I had the company isolate the product with the walls and I began working on the shot. We decided not to wet the floor as it was not in bad shape and didn't need to cover past machining damages to it. The shot took about 20 minutes to get photographed and it was shot with my Linholf 4 x 5 camera on Ektachrome film. I really love this kind of assignment.

A long time account and challenging shot...

My first assignment with this company really made me think, which is the essence of the profession.
The company manufactured printing presses for commercial use. As it seems in all commercial photography assignments,  there is always a hook, generally involving shooting on  site and time deadlines. This was no exception. I was called and ask to view the product and discuss the possibilities of getting an image for advertising purposes. I arrived at the company and we talked about the shot, hopefully I would be able to get something that showed the machine in the best light.....no pun intended.

We walked out into the plant and I saw what could be a gorgeous machine....surrounded by factory works, trash cans, workbenches, and it was darker than the inside of a wolf.  The first question I was asked is whether or not I had enough lights to make it work. I answered yes. I walked around the press which was HUGE ! The floor was concrete and pretty rough. I formulated the plan in my head and explained it to the owner of the plant.

I would be back in two days when the rebuild was done and all of the parts were on the machine. I asked him to construct walls using two 4 x 8 Styrofoam sheets supported by 2 x 4 studs giving me a wall 16 feet tall running around two sides of the machine. Basically I eliminated the rest of the plant and gave my self something to reflect light off of. We wet the floor covering years of production reminders, and also something else to reflect light off of. I set up my Linholf 4 x 5 and did a walk around to get the feel of the shot.

I asked him to turn out the lights and I went to work. After about 20 minutes of grand endeavor on my part, I asked him to turn on the lights again. He looked at me with a look of "How in the hell could I have hired this guy ?, and said, Bet ya don't have anything. I pulled out the Polaroid out of the back of the camera and started the 60 second count. He was tapping his foot ....for effect I guess. The minute was up and I had the shot I wanted. He was dumbfounded. " How'd ya do that ????? Mirrors strings and wires" I replied. Then I put in the Ektachrome and finished the job. I'll have another for you in a few days.

Close call............

Seeing the N.O. images of the last entry reminded me of an occasion when I was street shooting in Springfield, my college town. I was about 8 to 10 blocks west of the square and as I remember there was an old shoe store, a thrift cowboy western shop with clothes and boots and the area was generally run down. All of the other buildings were empty and dark. I was shooting a shot or two here and there ad noticed a rather interesting guy walking toward me down the sidewalk. Interesting face, walked assertively, a bit bowlegged, and had on a cowboy hat. About ten feet before he got to me I tripped the shutter on my camera that was hanging about waist level. Guessed the focus, knew the exposure, figured I was discrete enough to be in the CIA.  He stopped dead in his tracks, looked at me and asked " Ya just take my picture..." "Yeah" I answered.....( A great NO BRAINER moment, one of many that have followed me through life. ) "I don't like having my picture taken" he replied. "Watcha gonna do with it ? " soon followed. NO BRAINER # 2 " Don't know" looking at my life flying before my eyes. " I want the film", he said. #3 "Can't have it ...got other stuff on the roll I need". By this time I was trying to get real invisible.... There was a long silence....and he reached toward his back pocket.
OH JESUS !!! HE' GOING FOR THE KNIFE.....life passed faster in front of my eyes...it was going to be short by that time.....I knew I was going to die. He pulled out his billfold instead and gave me a five spot..."Don't make that picture kid". He turned around and walked away.

I got back to Ellis Hall and immediately developed and printed the picture......I've got it somewhere.
I'll show it to you if you don't tell him you've seen it.

Street shots...

While looking for some old images I came across two from my student days at SMS....as it will always be.....another story. I had gone to New Orleans over Easter Break and photographed the city.

I believe it was the Easter of "70"and it was a good time and my first encounter with the city. As always in a new location my photographic senses were on high alert and at that time primarily attuned to the decisive moment. I just walked around and shot when I thought I saw something worth noting.  Reflections on these images 43 years later seem to give them a more substantial boost than they had at the time. It really makes me consider photographing Tulsa now for the future...but someone else will have to make the comment on the Tulsa shots...43 more years is asking a lot.

Completing a challenge...

Adding and eliminating visual references to imagery is part of the job as a photographer.
I took this image of a power generating facility and decided to see what I could do with it.
It was looking pretty shop worn so I decided to shine it up so to speak. I really like the results.

The Rebuild...

As I said several months ago, I was working with a company that rebuilt equipment used in the oil business. Here are the before and after pictures of the machine they rebuilt. Really fine precise work that entailed rewiring, rebuilding, customizing, and reshaping different parts of the original machine. I love this type of assignment.

A Master at work...

Over the years I've had the privilege of meeting individuals with hidden talents. Being from a family that depended on wood ( as lumber that was sold by the carload by my father ) I seem to have  a built in propensity for the love of wood. My desk is made from the wood from the walnut trees that I grew up with in the front yard of our home in Carthage, and I have always marveled at the grain and color of the many varieties of wood from all over the world. I have had several friends that have been able to wield their creative forces through wood with amazing results.

One of my instructors in College, John Walker, created amazing sculptures with wood in the most unexpected ways. He made a series of different foods from different woods that were absolutely fabulous. Cherry pie with cherry filling flowing onto the plate, other foods all of them actually appearing to be real, with the exception that they were wood. He captured the kinetic energy within each piece. Bill Harmon, a cabinet make in Carthage could turn wood into anything and brought out the personality of a pre-ww-I airplane propeller for me through his use of the right varnishes on it.
Jack Fix took some wood I had in the basement of the studio that was probably close to one hundred years old, and made a spinning wheel for his daughter.

Jim Vander Lind, now retired from the University of Tulsa, is another guy I would have never expected to have an affinity with wood. I met Jim through the Sunrise Rotary and saw some of his work and was amazed. Because we were having to harvest a few trees from the front yard of the Carthage home, and of course the fact that I couldn't use it all, I offered him some, actually...all he could take. Jim and I rode up with a friend of his in another vehicle with a trailer and they loaded up.

The image here is Jim liberating a bowl from a piece of wood. His work is flawless and I'll soon post an image or two from the results of his working with some Morgan Walnut.

OOPS..............................

Life can be hard ......even for Santa..........

Have a great Holiday !!!!!